Tired of endless scheduling conflicts?
Juggling last-minute shift changes, staff availability, and compliance feels like a constant battle. This leaves your team feeling exhausted and overworked.
The real issue is that manual scheduling creates burnout, increases turnover, and ultimately affects the quality of patient care your facility provides.
In fact, a study in the Journal of Nursing Management found that 66% of nurse managers report scheduling as their most challenging task. This constant struggle directly contributes to nurse dissatisfaction.
But what if you could solve this? The right software helps you optimize your entire process, ensuring balanced shifts and happier nurses.
In this guide, I’m going to review the best nurse scheduling software for 2025. I’ll show you tools that can finally simplify your staffing.
You’ll discover how to reduce scheduling conflicts, ensure compliance, and boost your team’s morale, all with the right platform.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connecteam → | Deskless healthcare teams | |
| 2 | Deputy → | Mid-sized healthcare facilities | |
| 3 | Makeshift → | Healthcare teams with real-time needs | |
| 4 | NurseGrid → | Individual nurses & mobile users | |
| 5 | Smartlinx → | Healthcare administrators & HR |
1. Connecteam
Tired of manual nurse scheduling nightmares?
Connecteam offers efficient staff scheduling, time tracking, and task management to streamline your daily operations. This ensures you can simplify staff allocation from planning to distribution.
For healthcare administrators and nurse managers, automating scheduling prevents mistakes and ensures adequate coverage. This means you’ll have the right people assigned where and when needed, hassle-free.
No more juggling multiple apps!
Connecteam consolidates essential tools, simplifying daily work and ensuring smooth operations for your deskless team. You can precisely auto-record work hours and simplify timesheet approvals, getting payroll right every time with reliable data. Its real-time task delegation and progress tracking capabilities also help ensure quality work and provide immediate visibility. Additionally, it offers internal communication features like instant messaging and company updates to keep your workforce connected.
Finalizing nurse schedules just became simpler.
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Key features:
- Efficient scheduling: Automates nurse scheduling, preventing errors and ensuring optimal staffing levels across all shifts with ease.
- Precise time tracking: Auto-records accurate work hours and simplifies timesheet approvals for error-free payroll processing.
- Comprehensive HR management: Streamlines HR tasks, from training and onboarding to time off management, supporting compliance and employee satisfaction.
Connecteam features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Connecteam streamlines essential operations like time tracking, scheduling, and HR management, making it an excellent choice for the best nurse scheduling software. Its consolidated features help reduce costs, boost productivity, and maintain compliance, ensuring better patient care and nurse satisfaction.
2. Deputy
Struggling with complex nurse scheduling and compliance?
Deputy simplifies employee scheduling, timesheets, and HR in one place, helping your organization achieve happier teams and healthy profits. This means you can easily create smart schedules in minutes and swap shifts without the usual hassle. You can even keep your labor costs under budget.
Here’s how to manage your shifts better.
Deputy helps you avoid costly payroll mistakes and compliance errors by simplifying timesheets and labor compliance. You can accurately record timesheets with ease and manage local, state, and federal labor laws all within one unified platform. This comprehensive workforce management solution takes the headache out of compliance, allowing your business to thrive. Additionally, you can post jobs in seconds, hire perfect candidates, and make onboarding a breeze by collecting all HR documents in one organized place. Plus, track employee engagement with Shift Pulse+.
Ultimately, you’ll gain optimized staff allocation and smoother operations.
If you’re also looking into effective employee management, my article on best attendance tracking software covers how to streamline your workforce management.
Key features:
- Smart Scheduling: Create optimal employee schedules quickly, facilitate easy shift swaps, and ensure your labor costs remain within budget, preventing overstaffing or understaffing.
- Timesheet & Compliance Management: Record accurate timesheets and manage local, state, and federal labor laws in one platform, ensuring regulatory adherence and avoiding costly errors.
- Integrated HR Capabilities: Post jobs, onboard new hires with organized HR documents, and track employee engagement, streamlining your entire workforce management process.
Deputy features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Deputy simplifies complex nurse scheduling with smart features for shift management, timesheet accuracy, and compliance. This makes it an excellent choice if you’re seeking the best nurse scheduling software to reduce conflicts, ensure regulatory adherence, and improve nurse satisfaction.
3. Makeshift
Is balancing nurse availability and patient volume a headache for you?
Makeshift tackles this by centralizing staff information, simplifying scheduling, and managing last-minute shift changes effortlessly.
This means you can say goodbye to understaffing and scheduling conflicts, ensuring your team always has adequate coverage.
Here’s how you streamline nurse scheduling.
Makeshift helps you optimize staff allocation, reducing conflicts and boosting nurse satisfaction. You can easily manage employee availability, track credentials, and ensure regulatory compliance.
You’ll find it simple to fill open shifts quickly, reducing burnout and improving operational efficiency. Makeshift also offers real-time communication tools, enabling quick responses to staffing needs.
Plus, you can leverage robust reporting to analyze staffing trends and make informed decisions, ensuring you maintain high standards of patient care. This truly simplifies your staffing.
Automated scheduling ensures compliance and better patient care.
Key features:
- Centralized Staff Management: Effortlessly manage all employee information, availability, and credentials from one intuitive dashboard, simplifying complex scheduling for your team.
- Real-time Shift Management: Quickly fill open shifts, manage last-minute changes, and facilitate direct communication with nurses to ensure seamless coverage and reduce operational disruptions.
- Compliance and Reporting: Maintain regulatory standards with integrated compliance checks and generate insightful reports to optimize staffing decisions and enhance overall efficiency.
Makeshift features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Makeshift is an excellent choice for nurse managers seeking the best nurse scheduling software, especially if you prioritize automated staff allocation and real-time shift adjustments. It effectively addresses challenges like understaffing and compliance, helping your organization achieve smoother operations and improved nurse satisfaction.
4. NurseGrid
Struggling with complex nurse scheduling and staff availability?
NurseGrid offers a mobile-first solution designed specifically for nurses, simplifying schedule management and enabling seamless coordination. This means you can access your schedule 24/7 and add shifts for multiple locations.
This app helps address the constant balancing act of nurse availability and fluctuating patient volumes, providing a centralized hub for all your scheduling needs.
Here’s how NurseGrid supports your operational efficiency.
NurseGrid empowers nurses to take control of their schedules and careers directly from their smartphones, eliminating the need for bulky planners. You can easily compare calendars with work friends and know who you’re working with at a glance.
Additionally, the app allows you to build a network, connecting with colleagues and choosing who you want in your network. This fosters direct in-app messaging, making it simple to offer shift swaps or coordinate with your team. Plus, you can store credentials, upload photos of certifications, and create expiration reminders, ensuring compliance.
This ultimately leads to improved nurse satisfaction and smoother operations for your organization.
Key features:
- 24/7 Schedule Access: Quickly access your work schedule anytime, anywhere, and manage shifts across multiple locations with ease.
- Colleague Connectivity: See who you’re working with and effortlessly compare calendars, facilitating communication and teamwork within your network.
- Credential Management: Securely store and manage your certifications and credentials, including expiration reminders, for hassle-free compliance.
NurseGrid features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: If your organization needs to optimize staff allocation, reduce scheduling conflicts, and boost nurse satisfaction, NurseGrid is a strong contender for the Best Nurse Scheduling Software. Its user-friendly mobile interface and nurse-centric design, validated by a 4.9-star Apple Store rating from over 117K reviews, directly address common pain points.
5. Smartlinx
Struggling with complex nurse scheduling? I know your pain.
Smartlinx provides specific solutions like Employee Scheduling and Nurse Scheduling to tackle common staffing headaches.
This means you can streamline your operations and gain the visibility needed for effective staff allocation and compliance.
Time to simplify your daily work.
Smartlinx helps you cut through the clutter by offering a unified product suite that integrates different functions, giving you a connected experience. You’ll find tools for mobile shift management and time & attendance, ensuring accurate record-keeping.
Additionally, the platform offers Workforce Analytics and Payroll Based Journal Reporting, which means you can monitor key metrics and maintain compliance with ease. These features combine to simplify your daily tasks, letting you focus on what matters most: your people.
Plus, with solutions designed for labor cost reduction and workforce compliance, you can proactively address financial and regulatory challenges, ultimately improving staff satisfaction and patient care.
Speaking of optimizing operations, understanding cloud cost management software can also help improve overall financial efficiency.
Your business, radically simplified.
Key features:
- Employee and Nurse Scheduling: Optimize staffing, balance nurse availability, and manage fluctuating patient volumes to ensure adequate coverage across all shifts.
- Mobile Shift Management & Time & Attendance: Empower your staff with self-service options, accurately track hours, and reduce last-minute shift change conflicts.
- Workforce Analytics & Compliance Tools: Gain real-time data visibility to meet regulatory standards, predict staffing needs, and reduce costs effectively.
Smartlinx features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Smartlinx helps healthcare administrators, nurse managers, and HR professionals tackle complex scheduling challenges, making it a strong contender for the best nurse scheduling software. Its unified suite streamlines operations, boosts employee engagement, and ensures workforce compliance by providing real-time data and automated functionalities, optimizing staff allocation and reducing labor costs.
6. UKG
Tired of chaotic nurse scheduling and compliance headaches?
UKG offers specialized workforce management solutions, specifically designed for the healthcare industry, to help you streamline operations.
Their comprehensive HR, payroll, and workforce management platform helps you tackle complex staffing challenges, ensuring optimal coverage and regulatory adherence.
Here’s how you can achieve scheduling peace.
UKG provides an AI-guided human capital management (HCM) solution built to empower your organization. This means you can automate routine tasks, reduce manual errors, and free up valuable time for your nurse managers.
The platform streamlines HR, payroll, talent, and time management into a single, intuitive solution. You can drive employee engagement while cutting down reporting times significantly, like Eventide Senior Living Communities which reduced PBJ reporting time by 99%. Additionally, UKG helps you manage fluctuating patient volumes and nurse availability efficiently, ensuring appropriate staffing levels across all shifts.
Plus, their focus on a culture of trust and belonging means you can reduce nurse turnover and burnout. The result is improved patient care and smoother operations for your facility.
Before diving deeper, if you’re also optimizing financial processes, my article on best financial analytics software offers valuable insights.
Key features:
- Workforce Management: Tailored solutions for healthcare facilities to manage complex nurse schedules, time, and attendance with precision.
- AI-Guided HCM: Leverages artificial intelligence for optimized HR, payroll, and talent management, reducing administrative burdens and increasing efficiency.
- Compliance and Engagement: Helps ensure adherence to labor regulations while fostering a positive workplace culture to boost nurse satisfaction and retention.
UKG features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: UKG offers robust, AI-powered workforce management and HCM solutions, making it a strong contender for the best nurse scheduling software for healthcare organizations looking to automate complex staffing, improve compliance, and boost employee engagement, as seen with Dallas YMCA saving over 600 hours annually.
7. Rotageek
Struggling with complex nurse scheduling and last-minute changes?
Rotageek offers app-based workforce management and scheduling solutions to simplify your staffing challenges. This means you can efficiently plan labor to demand.
Their software helps you create the perfect workforce schedule every time, broadcast it to your employees, and fill and mitigate shift gaps easily.
Here’s how Rotageek solves your scheduling headaches.
Rotageek provides an all-in-one workforce management solution that automates staff allocation. This includes intuitive digital schedules and AI-optimized rotas using forecasts from your data.
Their auto-scheduling feature can create optimized schedules in seconds with just one click, taking into account business needs and staff availability. Additionally, their forecasting capability predicts labor needed by analyzing demand data. This ensures you have the right nurses at the right time. Plus, the self-serve employee app allows your team to manage availability, request time off, and swap shifts, boosting satisfaction and reducing your workload.
The result is smoother operations and improved patient care.
Key features:
- Auto-scheduling and Forecasting: Automatically create optimized schedules using AI and data-driven forecasts to perfectly match labor to patient demand.
- Mobile App & Employee Engagement: Empower nurses with a self-serve app for shift swaps, leave requests, and clear communication, fostering transparency and satisfaction.
- Time & Absence Management: Easily track hours, manage leave requests, and integrate with HR and payroll systems for accurate timesheet generation.
Rotageek features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Rotageek stands out as a strong candidate for the best nurse scheduling software, trusted by healthcare organizations. Their AI-driven auto-scheduling and robust forecasting capabilities help optimize staff allocation, leading to up to a 10% saving on labor costs and a 5% reduction in unplanned absences weekly.
8. Workeen
Are you tired of complex, manual nurse scheduling?
Workeen AI simplifies employee rostering, making it ready in just a few clicks with its intuitive, AI-powered system. This effectively addresses the challenges of last-minute changes and compliance.
I’ve found that it specifically tackles the pain points of understaffing and burnout by automating complex organizational restrictions. This means you can easily create effective rosters that suit both employee abilities and company needs.
This is truly a game-changer.
Workeen AI upgrades your scheduling process, saving time by simplifying and accelerating roster creation. It ensures optimal resource use and maximizes productivity.
The software enhances flexibility and guarantees compliance with labor laws, allowing you to appropriately assign qualified employees while mitigating conflicts. Plus, it enables efficient team communication, keeping staff informed and prepared for shifts, ensuring all business needs are fully covered. The result is improved overall productivity and profitability, optimizing your workforce management.
Workeen AI streamlines staff allocation, reduces conflicts, and ensures compliance, leading to improved patient care.
While we’re discussing healthcare software, my article on best chiropractic software explores solutions for specialized clinics.
Key features:
- Auto-scheduling: Automatically generates schedules based on predefined rules and constraints, reducing the time and effort typically spent on manual rostering.
- Real-time scheduling & non-disruptive rescheduling: Instantly reacts to disruptions and automatically adjusts schedules with minimal changes, enhancing operational flexibility.
- Mobile App Access: Provides access from anywhere via iOS and Android apps, allowing nurses and managers to view schedules and coordinate on the go.
Workeen features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: For healthcare administrators and nurse managers struggling with manual methods, Workeen AI stands out as the best nurse scheduling software. Its AI-powered capabilities, like auto-scheduling and real-time adjustments, mean your nurses are happier and patient care improves, as confirmed by Dr. Prince Naria, Chief Nursing Officer, who found it a “lifesaver.”
Conclusion
Ready to end scheduling chaos?
Juggling shifts, compliance, and staff well-being is exhausting. Finding the right tool among dozens of options only adds to the pressure on your facility.
Connecteam reports that well-designed software can optimize staffing levels, improve communication, and prevent costly understaffing issues. This directly impacts patient care, making your software choice critical for your success.
So what’s the best choice here?
From everything I’ve reviewed, Connecteam is the top solution. It directly solves the scheduling headaches and communication gaps that cause nurse burnout.
Its consolidated platform for scheduling, time tracking, and communication makes it the best nurse scheduling software I’ve found. You’ll streamline operations and boost satisfaction.
If you’re also looking into specialized healthcare tools, my guide on dental imaging software options provides more information.
I highly recommend you start a free trial of Connecteam to see how it simplifies daily work for your entire nursing staff.
Your team will be happier and more efficient.
